Thursday, April 26, 2012

Sparkle

I can not believe that it has been a month since this little kid was born, and I have yet to mention it! This is miss Sparkle (named so by the eldest child). She was born on the afternoon of March 26.

In May Almond (the mother) will be 2 years old and this is her first kidding. The farm that Almond came from did not leave the kids on the mom, instead the farmer milked mom and bottle fed babies. Many goat farmers believe that this makes the kids friendlier (at this point I have no opinion on this). As much as I want friendly kids, I also want less work. As it is I am still bottle feeding the two orphaned kids and see no reason why a kid can't be friendly and cared for by mom. Who knows though I might change my mind with a few more years of experience.

Almond ended up delivering Sparkle when we were not home she did clean her off and seemed aware that she was there. I however had a funny feeling that Sparkle had not nursed yet. I move the two of them into their own quarters and watched as Almond seemed to not notice Sparkle, concerned we milked Almond and then tube fed Sparkle. I ended up tube feeding her a few times, and they stayed locked up together for the next couple of days. All is well in motherhood now and Sparkle is growing like a weed.

I have started locking Sparkle and the two orphaned boys up at night and milking Almond in the morning. Almond is quite the dancer when it comes milking time, but I am being patient as I know that she would rather have her kid nursing then me milking her. At the moment all of Almonds milk is going to the two boys- who are also growing like weeds!

About 3 days after Sparkle was born Chuck and I de-horned her. A horrible process by which the horn buds are removed via a disbudding iron. It is not something that either of us enjoyed doing but know how important it is for Sparkle, and for the person who will eventually own her.

And that now concludes our kidding season, Friday it turns out did not get pregnant. Next year we will hopefully have 3 milkers!